landroversforever Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 4 hours ago, Happyoldgit said: Can’t do any harm, try another agent too as I found they do vary. Tried the national line to no avail - not interested as I’ve not been a previous customer and we’re planning more building work in the form of an extension. 3 hours ago, Daan said: I don't really see the problem, you can insure it and don't mention the not living there bit and renovation bit. At some stage it is wise to update the insurance as the value of your house has increased. By now, the who did it bit does not matter, as they can see the job in front of them. I mean trying to insure something that you are going to do is just a waste of time. I suppose you have planning involved with this? Again, once done, you can show them planning drawings and they can go from there. You are too early with insuring basically. Trouble is, it’s obviously not habitable at the moment. When they ask questions you have to give a correct answer or they’ll wiggle out of any claims. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 Having checked over the policy details, I do seem to have sorted something for tomorrow! Fingers crossed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 5 hours ago, Ed Poore said: I think it does - companies here were quite often used to avoid paying tax. For example, if you earnt £100k then as a solitary person you'd be charged 40% income tax. If you set up a company to receive the funds then you could pay yourself a basic salary but then get dividends at the end of the year which I think are taxed at 8.25% (my naive understanding). I was asked a few years back to do some consultancy and as I was already paying 40% the idea was to have a company so if I wanted tools etc., I could buy them through that as I didn't actually need the extra cash. We ended up putting it into the family business which was electronics as since we owned it outright and controlled it all it wasn't worth setting up a new one. However our accountant at the time gave us the warnings above and he'd had a lot of their clients get a lot of pressure and investigations started because of only having one source of income to the company. I know how it works, as that's how I work as a freelancer But no experience of the UK, of course. Anyway, my suggestion was mainly to be able to get some liability insurance and be labelled a builder. But I agree with the others, don't give them more information than they need to know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve King Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 58 minutes ago, landroversforever said: Tried the national line to no avail - not interested as I’ve not been a previous customer and we’re planning more building work in the form of an extension. Trouble is, it’s obviously not habitable at the moment. When they ask questions you have to give a correct answer or they’ll wiggle out of any claims. Very true! I used to work in claims for a major insurance company and in the event of a large ish claim, a loss adjuster would be appointed and apart from assessing the damage, they would also consider whether the policy T & Cs have been complied with. If the premises showed no evidence of being lived in, then the claim was be declined and the policy could be voided. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallfry Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 I assume you are trying to insure the building, any materials on site, and tools etc ? Our place has been unfinished for years, and a couple of years ago I found out that because of this, it was uninsurable with standard policies. They always ask if the place is kept in good condition, so I decided to come clean and say that it was a work in progress. It was at this point I discovered that a building is not covered if there are major works going on. This would be the responsibility of the builders liability insurance while the work is going on. As we are doing it all ourselves, our only option was to take out a policy that covers works in progress. Problem with that was we were quoted £1800, more than ten times the usual cost. They will normally cover DIY accidents, but what does that actually mean in reality ? These days, most younger people do not seem to have a clue, so probably putting up a shelf, or decorating. Everything beyond that seems to be a grey area. So, had anything happened, the normal policy would be void, and therefore a waste of money, and coming clean was a shot in the foot, because they then wanted photos, which resulted in the existing policy being cancelled. We are now blacklisted or whatever, so the place is uninsured now. Cannot even insure contents, as the house is deemed insecure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted May 15 Author Share Posted May 15 Just the building. The kept in good condition part when I've asked a few different ones just seems to mean that it's weather proof and the main structure isn't falling down already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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